Splitlog Church
Splitlog Church is a historic church building in the unincorporated community of Cayuga, Oklahoma, near Grove, Oklahoma. It is named for Mathias and Eliza Splitlog, who built the church and founded Cayuga, which was an industrial center in the late 1880s. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and still serves as a church.
Features
Exterior
The church building is approximately long by wide and is constructed of native limestone from the nearby Boone Formation. It has a tall steeple above the front entrance with a Belfry that held a 1,600 pound bronze bell that was cast in Belgium, shipped to Neosho, Missouri, and then hauled by his son Henry Splitlog the 24 miles from Neosho to Cayuga. A smaller belfry toward the rear of the building held a second, smaller bell.The roof is high and steeply sloped. Limestone steps lead to the front entrance, which has plain wooden double doors, and has an arch adorned with fifteen Indian symbols. The meaning of the symbols is unknown.
Interior
Inside, the building has imported wood, much of which has been carved very ornately. All windows are arched and had stained glass. Starting at the east end of the altar, each arched window has one letter of the designer's surname carved above it. Thus, running down the right side of the nave, across the back, and returning up the left, the carvings form the name "Splitlog".The organ that Splitlog had ordered for the choir loft could not be delivered until the church was nearly complete. The building had water from the water system Splitlog built for the town, but the furnace to provide steam heat to parishioners was not completed before his death.
In 1998, a 6-foot mural was discovered in the church; it depicts Delaware County, Oklahoma and is signed Victoria L. Morell, 1946.
Removed elements
The church has a basement, and there was a two-room building behind the church that served as a small residence and engine house. A tunnel connected the church basement to the other building, for the priest's convenience.In the cornerstone was a copper can about the size of a cigar box, with pictures of Eliza and Mathias Splitlog, their biography, one of each of the coins used at that time, and some stamps. The original windows were stained glass, that had cost $19,000 when it was built. In 1925, vandals exploded dynamite in the walls, stealing the box of coins and breaking the windows.
When the Catholic Church sold the building to the Methodist Church, they removed the altar and confessional. The Methodists installed a pulpit. At that time, the Catholic Church also removed the large Belgian bell from the front steeple and sent it to St. Catherine's Church in Nowata, Oklahoma. Later, the Splitlogs' grandson Chief Grover Splitlog negotiated with the Catholic Bishop of Oklahoma Eugene J. McGuinness to return the bell, and for a while it was displayed on the groundskeeper's yard.
History
Mathias and Eliza Splitlog and their children were forcibly moved from their original homes in Canada and Ohio, to the Wyandotte Purchase in Kansas Territory, and from there to Indian Territory. Here they founded the Cayuga town and industrial center, most of which is now gone except this church and the adjoining cemetery.Mathias was Cayuga and French by birth and he grew up among the Wyandot people. Eliza was Wyandot. When they moved to Oklahoma, Mathias Splitlog met with the Seneca Chief George Spicer about the move, and Spicer agreed to adopt the Splitlogs into the Seneca tribe, so they could live in the area—at that time, the Senecas held their land in severalty and were not allowed to sell any land.
Religious backgrounds
Mathias Splitlog had an infant baptism by the Catholic church but was a lapsed Catholic. Eliza Splitlog was a devout Quaker. They often welcomed missionaries from different denominations to use the meeting hall on the upper floor of the general store, and later built a large arbor for the Methodist and Quaker missionaries to hold services, but Mathias only attended the Catholic services.In 1892, Father Ketcham was a new priest working among the Quapaw and other tribes in the area, and Mathias asked to meet with him. It was during these meetings that Eliza and eleven other members of the Splitlog family converted and were baptized as Catholics. In 1893, Mathias Splitlog attended the pontifical mass when Reverend Theophile Meerschaert dedicated the new St. Mary's of the Quapaws 40 miles away, and was confirmed in the Catholic church then.
Father Arthur Versavel, a Belgian immigrant, also visited monthly to conduct mass and to visit with Mathias Splitlog, who spoke French. Several of their grandchildren attended the Catholic Sacred Heart Academy in Vinita, Oklahoma, which Versavel established in 1897 while pastor there, but some of the Splitlog children had marriages conducted by Jeremiah Hubbard, a Quaker missionary.
Mathias and Eliza Splitlog also maintained some traditional Wyandot faith and religious practices. Mathias was well-known as a subject-matter expert who explained the religious stories and beliefs of the Wyandot people to White people interested in learning and documenting the traditions. Both were given Catholic sacraments and services upon their deaths. When Eliza died, Wyandot customs were followed along with the Catholic ones: the men dug a grave and built a fire that burned for days after the funeral; and the women prepared foods for a feast held 10 days after her burial.
Construction history
In 1893, Splitlog began building the church. At first, he only wanted to buy a large church bell, but Ketcham suggested that he build an entire mission church to house that bell as well.Matthias was working under time pressure, because his wife was suffering from an inoperable cancer. He wanted to have the church finished during her lifetime, so she could enjoy his memorial to her. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Father Ketcham gave her last rites and she died in September 1894. The building was not finished but it was used for her funeral. She was buried in the cemetery next to the church.
In 1895, Splitlog restarted construction, and on November 25, 1896 a dedication service was held. The church was dedicated to St. Matthias, with blessings given by Bishop Meerschaert, Father Ketcham, and Father Versavel. More than 100 Catholics and 400 non-Catholics attended the ceremony, during which the large bell also was blessed. The bell's first toll was in memory of Eliza Splitlog, and it was heard even 12 miles away.
Ownership after 1896
From 1894 to 1896, the Senecas sent Splitlog to Washington, D.C., as a delegate and during one of these trips, in December 1896, Splitlog died of pneumonia. William Nichols, who had travelled with him, brought his body home to Cayuga. In January 1897, Reverend Edward Van Waesberghe, who worked at St. Mary's of the Quapaws, and Reverend Father Schele of Seneca, Missouri, conducted the Requiem Mass. Hundreds of people attended, and Mathias was buried beside his wife in the church cemetery.Many of Splitlog's children died before him, and immediate issues about his estate were complicated by the laws at the time, and to a lesser extent the wishes of his heirs. The church and cemetery land was on Seneca property, and at that time Seneca people could not sell their own land. Also, some of his heirs were not Catholic and objected to it being sold or given to the Catholic church. There was litigation for several years. In 1906, US Senator Henry C. Hansbrough wrote into the Indian Appropriations Act of fiscal year 1908 that Splitlog's heirs could sell the church, cemetery, and the 3 acres of land to the Roman Catholic Church, which allowed the bishop to buy it at a nominal fee. In 1916, Father Ketcham oversaw the purchase of the church and cemetery property from the Splitlog heirs.
The church building was used occasionally, but by 1930 it had not been used in over 16 years and had been damaged by vandals and weather. Bishop Francis Kelley sold the church, cemetery, and property to the Methodists, who restored it and re-dedicated it for the Methodists.
In 1953, the Methodists sold the church and cemetery land to the Sellers family, who had known the Splitlogs and didn't want to see the property decay. Non-denominational church services are still held at this church.